Lucas's Blog

I won’t pretend to know any Italian fluently,

The most I can muster up in a native conversation would be Buongiorno, come stai? to anyone that asked.

However, having recently naturalised as an Italian Citizen through jure sanguinis (right of blood)

I do feel I owe it to the Italians to learn the language of the culture I am now apart of.

One day I came across a photo on one of the social media platforms of a Nonno (Italian Grandfather) with the phrase “tutto Passa” across his chest.

At the time, none the wise to it’s actual meaning

I initally admired how content he looked with everything around him.

But was unsure of it’s actual meaning

Curiosity eventually getting the better of me, I fired up google translate to find out

Tutto Passa literally translates to ‘everything passes’

I discovered that it was an Italian phrase centered around three main concepts:

• to remind us of the impermanence of life
• To be resilient in the face of adversity
• To appreciate the beauty in every moment

The italians are known to have had some wise citizens throughout history

Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, even Christopher Columbus & Pavarotti heralded from the Boot of Europe.

But this isn’t the what I’m writing about

Lets get back to Tutto Passa.

As I’ve stumbled my way through my twenties (I’m 27 now), I’ve come far more to terms with the impermanence life

Without getting to philosophical with you early on in the working week

Life in it’s entirety is essentiually a fleeting moment

Yes when you’re working a job you don’t like, doing a plank for over a minute or grieving the death of a loved one

Life might not feel so fleeting

But it is recognising both in the good & bad times.

They will not go on forever.

For me, Tutto Passa is a beautiful thing to recognise in the present, the everyday.

Those special moments with your friends, time spent with family, the laughs, the moments that plaster a smile on your face

I’ll give you an example

When I lived in Australia, I used to live in a share house with my brother & 3 other people

This was right after Covid had finished

It was old style house in Prahran in Melbourne owned by a Greek landlord who had inherited it from her parents

Among other things, we had 5 people living in this house with the facilities for 3 (and only 3 people on the lease).

I ended up there after visiting my brother after a trip around half of Australia in 2021.

After proposing to my brother that i’d like to live in the external storage room not bigger than a small kitchen.

Everyone tentatively agreeing presumably because i’d be bringing the rent down further for the collective.

4 boys & 1 girl. With various partners over most nights of the week

For a sharehouse experience, it was about as good as you could get.

A significant amount of factors contributed to this experience

It’s location, the cheap rent, the people living there & the memories created weekly.

It was the rare sharehouse where we would all hang out on weekends after living with each other every day.

One day, it was time for one of my housemates, Hugo to move out. Signifying the end of the Greville St era (as we called it).

That period was a period of much self discovery for me.

Hugo & I had become quite close during this period (We’re still very close to this day), and I was sad I wouldn’t see him everyday anymore.

But it did make me extremely grateful for the times we had shared collectively.

We had spoken about the things we wanted for our respective futures, and seeing him pursue that brought me joy.

Life is about growing and evolving into the person you want to be in the world.

You are not born to remain stagnant doing the same thing over & over into perpetuity.

Realistcially, I’m not going to live in a sharehouse with all 4 of them for 30 years.

But it is the fact we had that time together which was special.

I still hold this period of time in my life in the highest regard as a formative time in my life

and am still extremely close all those initial housemates to this day

The impermanence of life means you never know when things, places or circumstances may change.

So enjoy every moment as you never know when it will be time to change

On the other side of the coin

There is no pretending that life is always sunshine & Rainbows as Syllvester Stallone would say.

There are darker days than others

Sometimes things that we can control

Mistakes, bad fortune or just pure unluck

or things we can’t control

deaths of people close to us, things not turning out like we would or whatever circumstance has come your way

Tutto Passa also has a place in these times

No matter how dire the scenario you are in is, it will always pass

If you back through your life at all the trials & tribulations that have come your way

No matter how scary or heartbreaking it initally seemed

You wouldn’t be reading this if you hadn’t managed to deal with it

No matter how grey the clouds may seem, the sun will always shine again

Having faith in what’s to come even if your plans didn’t eventuate today or this week or month

I used to work in a Job that I really didn’t like, Like a lot of people in the corporate world

Sitting in my Volvo XC-90 on the Dandenong freeway during peak hour traffic each morning

I would turn the music up louder to drown out the anxiety for the day ahead

While I was in that job, I used to think it would never end

but that’s not how the world works

Time keeps on ticking along, whether you’re happy or not

and eventually I mustered up the strength (over email) to resign from that job

at time of writing, I’m approaching the happiest and most fulfilled I’ve been over my lifetime

As I reflect on that Italian Nonno in the cover picture of this Blog

I think of everything he would’ve endured over his lifetime

The ups, the downs, the periods of uncertainty & periods of pure joy.

All is face tells me is that he’s okay with it all

Everything good & bad will pass, but while its with you. Learn to take something from it because in the end

Tutto Passa.